Craig Bellamy
Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a former Welsh international footballer who played for Liverpool in the 2006-07 season and the 2011-12 season. Liverpool career Bellamy signed for Liverpool on 22 June 2006 for a fee of £6,000,000 from Blackburn. He got his Liverpool career off to a good start with a goal against Maccabi Haifa in Champions League qualifying, but generally struggled for goals in the league campaign, scoring just seven in 27 appearances. Bellamy added to his reputation as a volatile character at a training camp in Portugal on 19 February 2007, where he assaulted John Arne Riise with a golf club, bruising his legs. The situation arose when Riise refused to sing in a karaoke competition, which angered Bellamy, and this escalated to a stand off between the two, with a fight being narrowly avoided. Bellamy then armed himself with a golf club and tracked Riise down. He departed from Liverpool on 10 July 2007 to West Ham for £7,500,000 having made 42 appearances in all competitions, with nine goals to his name. On 31 August 2011 Liverpool re-signed Bellamy on a 2 year deal on a free transfer from Manchester City. He wore the number 39 shirt for the 2011-12 season. He made his second debut for Liverpool on 10 September 2011 against Stoke in a 1-0 defeat, coming on as a 67th minute substitute for Jordan Henderson. Bellamy scored his first goal in his second spell with Liverpool away at Brighton in the League Cup on 21 September 2011. He put the Reds 1-0 ahead with a low shot that went in off the post. He scored his second goal of the season and his 11th in total for Liverpool with a deflected shot against Norwich City. It was his first league start for the club since his move in August. Bellamy made his 50th appearance for Liverpool on 20 November 2011, when he started against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He provided the assist for Maxi Rodriguez to open the scoring. On 27 November 2011, Bellamy's Wales manager, former team-mate and friend Gary Speed passed away. This left Bellamy devastated and he was left out of the squad to face Manchester City, which kicked off on the same day, by manager Kenny Dalglish. Bellamy returned to the starting line up just two days later away to Chelsea in the League Cup quarter final. The minute's applause both sets of fans gave Speed prior to kick off brought Bellamy to tears, however he went on to set up both Liverpool goals in the team's 2-0 victory. Bellamy's impressive form for Liverpool continued on 18 December 2011 in an away match against Aston Villa. Bellamy was chosen as the man of the match by numerous publications for netting the first goal and setting up the second with a corner in a 2-0 win. Bellamy signed off 2011 with an impressive brace against former club Newcastle United on 30 December, which included a clinical long-range free kick. For these feats, Bellamy was voted the Standard Chartered player of the month for December by Liverpool fans. On 25 January 2012, Bellamy gave a man-of-the-match performance in the second leg of Liverpool's League Cup semi-final tie against Manchester City at Anfield, which finished 2-2. He capped his impressive display by scoring Liverpool's second equaliser, putting the Reds through to the 2012 League Cup Final, which they won on penalties- the club's first piece of silverware in six years. After this however his form tailed off somewhat, and he netted just one further goal for the season- in a 3-0 win against Wolves. At the end of the season, speculation mounted that Bellamy wished to make a return to Cardiff City to be closer to his family. After a long running transfer saga, Bellamy officially signed for Cardiff on 10 August 2012, ending his second season-long spell at Liverpool. Honours Liverpool *League Cup: 1 (2012) Individual *No. 65 on 100 Players Who Shook The Kop (2013) *Standard Chartered Player of the Month: 2 (December 2011, January 2012) Stats External Links * Bellamy Bellamy